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<title>tipping point by progressivestupidity (octolingkiera)</title>
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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/25162096">tipping point</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/octolingkiera/pseuds/progressivestupidity'>progressivestupidity (octolingkiera)</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>kiera's iz drabbles (of doom!!) [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Invader Zim</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Angst, Drabble, Gen, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, Post-Invader Zim: Enter the Florpus, Pre-Found Family, izweek2020, pre-zadf, very short</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-07-09</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-07-09</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-05 04:54:07</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>445</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/25162096</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/octolingkiera/pseuds/progressivestupidity</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Zim’s denial skills are god tier, but even they have their limits.</p>
<p>(For IZ Week 2020 Day 1. <strong>Angst</strong> or Fluff)</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>kiera's iz drabbles (of doom!!) [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1822813</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>26</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>tipping point</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>i wrote this really quick and while exhausted as an incredibly last minute entry for IZ Week 2020. I wasn't going to do any of them, but I decided very last minute to throw some words on a doc for them, and this is what i ended up getting. </p>
<p>if it looks unfinished that's bc it sorta is? but it's just A Moment. a very heated, argumentative moment between zim and dib that eventually sets them on the path to becoming friends.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“When are you going to get it through your thick head that the Tallests aren’t coming?” Dib flings his arms out wide in his exasperation</p>
<p>“They’re just…!” Zim fumbles a bit, clenching and unclenching his fists. “The Armada is a million light years away! It takes time to travel that far, <em>obviously</em>. It took me six of your months to get here from Conventia and the Massive is further away from here now than <em>that</em>. They’ll come! You’ll see! And then you’ll be sorry!” Zim’s face is drawn tight. He’s tense all over, shoulders drawn up to his jaw, antennae pressed flat to his head, and normally Dib prides himself on reading Zim like an open book, but he’s too far gone in his own annoyance to see the warning signs.</p>
<p>It’s because he doesn’t see these red flags that Dib proceeds to stick his own foot in his mouth with his next words. “Maybe if you weren’t such an idiot and opened your eyes, you’d see the truth—that they dumped you here to get rid of you.”</p>
<p>“<em>YOU THINK I DON’T KNOW THAT?”</em> Zim explodes, planting his tiny hands in Dib’s chest and <em>shoving</em>. The boy lands painfully on his ass. “I’m not stupid, <em>Dib</em>.” His name is spat like an insult. “I know they don’t care about me! Why do you think I try so hard?”</p>
<p>Dib gapes at Zim, looking up at him for once, stunned into silence. “I.” He swallows. “You know?”</p>
<p>“Of course, I know.” Zim’s voice is a low hiss and his eyes are narrowed to slits. “You don’t get banished and then just <em>get over it</em>. You don’t get put on trial to defend your life, forced to relive your worse mistakes, and get sentenced to death, only to be saved by freak miracle, and <em>never acknowledge it happened</em>.” Zim takes a deep breath and crosses his arms over his chest. Dib supposes he means for it to look intimidating, but it looks more like he’s holding himself together. “I’ve always known.”</p>
<p>“Why <em>do</em> you try so hard then? If you’ve always known there was no point?” Dib has to ask, has to know, has to hear the words from Zim’s own mouth.</p>
<p>Zim purses his lips and turns away. “There was always a point.” He falls silent for a moment, one antenna twitching up a bit in thought. “I just… I thought if I was just a little better, if I accomplished something important for once, that… I don’t know, that maybe I’d.” He pauses and grits his teeth. “Maybe if I actually managed to take over this filthy planet I’d be worth something for once.”</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>i might continue this at some point, but don't hold me to it. this is the first iz fic i've posted in nine whole years bc it's the only thing ive gotten anywhere Close to finishing</p>
<p><a href="https://progressivestupidity.tumblr.com">feel free to check me out on tumblr</a><br/>i also have an ffn but haha why would you wanna find that (im octolingkiera over there)</p></blockquote></div></div>
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